Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Repaying the Buddha’s Grace with Offerings (人中上供 以報佛恩)
Date: November 08.2017
“We must respect those who form great aspirations to uphold this sutra. We must firmly resolve to draw near and make offerings to them. With those ahead of us, we must draw near and pave the way with love to show our respect. With those behind us, we must have thoughts of sincere compassion, sympathy, love and protection. For many lifetimes, sentient beings are carried on the Buddha’s shoulders. We must uphold the sutras in all places to repay the Buddha’s grace.”
We must be mindful! “We must respect those who form great aspirations to uphold this sutra.” We must pass down the Dharma in the world. When people have the Dharma in their minds, the principles are in their minds. If there are no principles in people’s minds, there is no road for them to walk. To have a road in this world, we must be clear on how we came to this world and ho9w we walk this road through the world. That comes from the principles. Principles must be applied with love. This love must be a selfless great love, a pure and undefiled love. Only that is the Bodhi-path of true awakening. For people who are awakened, their minds will not be defiled by mundane matters and passions, cravings, greed and attachments of all kinds. Those who are awakened are not contaminated by these things. Instead, they have great love for the world. So, they are said to have “unconditional loving-kindness and universal compassion”. This makes them awakened sentient beings. These are principles that the world cannot lack. The Lotus Sutra is all about teaching us that we must pave this path in the world so that for a long time, people will have a path to walk on. These are the teachings for attaining Buddhahood. We must always have these principles paving the path in this world. The Buddha taught the Dharma in the world for less than 50 years. In those 40 to 50 years, He taught transformed us. he helped is begin to understand the suffering in the world. There is much impermanence in the world. Human minds are filled with afflictions and negative thoughts and are constantly changing. He wanted to help us understand that all this begins with our minds. People’s minds are not orderly; they have deviated from the principles of the world. The Buddha comes to the world for one great cause, which is to pave this path properly and tell us to not stray from the path. If we keep walking straight on this path, naturally we will be at peace, and naturally we be on a safe and smooth path. He came to the world to pave a path for people’s minds; this is the great Bodhi-path. In the past, He used all kinds of skillful means to guide us to this great, direct Bodhi-path. So, it should be easy to walk on. However, we humans, sentient beings, are stubborn. Eliminating afflictions and ignorance is easier said than done. On the surface, it appears that we know, understand, respect and are willing to form aspirations.
However, the myriads of sentient beings have so many afflictions. This is what the environment is like. People may be smart and have sharp capabilities and find it easy to accept the Dharma, but they are also easily led by their afflictions. This is why we in the human world are unable to liberate ourselves and thus remain here. Therefore, we must form aspirations. It is a long path to walk. We must apply a mindset of reverence toward upholding sutras and making great vows. We must be dedicated to accepting this sutra. The Buddha spent a very long time to build up to this. He spent more than 40 years teaching in His later years, in His old age, He had to be very clear and obvious [in His teachings] and help everyone value this sutra. So, He began to praise those who could uphold this sutra as doing so with love, with selfless love. In this world, He demonstrated these principles through examples of people and matters. There is much suffering among people and matters. With the principles, He awakened their love and guided them to pave the path. This is way the Buddha over and over praised those upholding the sutras, whether they uphold one line, one verse or wholeheartedly accepted and uphold them by reading, reediting, copying, teaching and following them in spiritual practice.
In this chapter, the Buddha really put in His efforts, hoping that everyone could respect them. So, we ourselves, as listeners, must form aspirations. When it comes to this sutra, the Wondrous Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra, we must respect it at all times. We must also earnestly accept and uphold the teachings in this sutra. We must make the great vows. We accept and uphold it ourselves, and we must also respect others’ upholding of it. When others accept and uphold it, we must take joy in that, we must praise them. We must make great vows. It is best if we also put it into practice ourselves. So, “We must firmly resolve to draw near and make offerings to them.” Not only must we uphold the sutras ourselves, but when others are upholding it, we must draw near them and make offerings to them.
In study groups, we often hear people say, “Hearing these teachings made me happy. I want to initiate a review of the teachings. Not only will I review them myself, but I will also call on everyone to review them together. I also listened to the teachings, so when other people initiate a review to expound [for us to] listen again, I will also take joy in that. I will immediately go and participate.” The more people, the grater the energy. Then, everyone will become more interested in reading and reciting the sutra. Hearing it, we take to heart what we can. After taking it to heart, naturally we can change our old habits and our erroneous perspectives. After listening to the sutras and reviewing the teachings, we engage in self-reflection. “I have these kinds of erroneous behaviors. I must immediately correct them.” Once we change our habits, our families will rejoice. Friends and relatives will come [and ask], “What is it that made this person change?” After investigating, they realize that [the change] came from accepting the contents of this sutra. Upon hearing it, the principles penetrated our minds.
So, the path of our minds changed direction. From the wrong path, we turn in the direction of the right path. Naturally, this Dharma will then become more widespread. This is why we must put our hearts into spreading the Dharma; [it] can transform people’s minds. So, to the more learned, when we learn the teachings, we must show respect. “With those ahead of us, we must draw near.” If others have accepted and upheld the sutras more diligently, gained greater understanding by reading and reciting them, and taken it to heart with a clearer analysis of them than we have, they are ahead of us when it comes to this sutra because they have a more thorough understanding. So, we should respect them. This is toward “those ahead of us”.
This is like when we talk about our “senior classmates”. They accepted [the Dharma] earlier. They have delved into it more deeply and thus have a greater understanding. So, when it comes to the Dharma, they are ahead of us. So, we must respect them. “With those ahead of us, we must draw near.” We must quickly draw near them. They are advanced in practice and are virtuous. We should draw near them more often. So, with that sense of closeness, we pave this path out of love as a sign of respect. We often talk about paving a path with love to help everyone walk [in this direction]. We see that this path is already bright and clear. This path requires everyone to pave it together. So, everyone must follow the Dharma of this sutra and its meanings. Since we respect and draw near it, we must follow it. We must pave this path with love so everyone in the world can walk it together. This shows we approve of the Dharma and are willing to take it to heart, thus we dedicate ourselves to doing this. This is the power of love.
And with those behind us? “We must have thoughts of sincere compassion, sympathy, love and protection.” “Those behind us” are those yet to hear the teachings or are just starting to listen to them now. For newly inspired people, beginners, we must also cherish their aspirations. This is the root of spiritual practice. This seed is just beginning to extend it roots and sprout upwards. We must, with a compassionate heart, cherish this seed which has just sprouted. We must take meticulous care of it, take care of this seeding. This requires a very sincere heart. A big tree can shade others from sun and wind. However, a small seed that just sprouted requires people to take care of it. So, with a sincere compassion, we take care of this seed. A seedling that just sprouted needs us to take good care of it. It cannot withstand the blazing sun, so we must provide some shade for it. When the soil is too dry, we must water it. This way. The small seedling can slowly grow up to become as small tree. In the future, it will become a bid tree that can block the sun and provide shade to allow everyone to cool off. This is why we must use a sincere mind to cherish those who just formed aspirations and use a compassionate love to protect them. We must constantly have this mindset so that our path can become robust, so that this path in the world can be healthy and can grow stronger. With this path in the world, a small seed can grow into a Bodhi-forest.
So, we must constantly remember that the Buddha carries sentient beings on His shoulders. Life after life He continuously comes to this world. He cherishes sentient beings just as one cares for young children. In this way, lifetime after lifetime He carries us on His shoulders. Protecting sentient beings is a responsibility that the Buddha believes He should shoulder. He is like a great, compassionate father, as well as sentient beings’ great guiding teacher. All of our wisdom-lives and the roots of our spiritual practice are dependent on the Buddha’s love to guide us. he helps everyone understand this path, how to give of ourselves to people.
At the end of 2014, as we transitioned from 2014 to 2015, Malaysia suffered a huge windstorm and flood. The disaster was severe. Those winds and waters caused Northern Malaysia, caused several provinces, to be completely flooded. Tzu Chi volunteers from all over Malaysia came together. They truly did what we talk about, “uniting to spread love throughout Malaysia”. This was the kind of love they demonstrated. To provide disaster relief, every day they flew northward from Penanf to the eastern coast of Malaysia to serve. This took a long time. Every day. They traveled by chartered flights. For volunteers who were closer, they took the bus. In flooded places, they took a boat over the land. Because of the flooding, the roads were covered with water, where cars could not travel, they used boats. This disaster relief was very hard work. Providing disaster relief is a lengthy process. Through the Cash for Relief program, Tzu Chi volunteers dedicated themselves to working with people who signed up. They showed them how to clean up and what to do to help. From civilian homes to churches, mosques and schools, they helped to clean all these places. Truly, we saw them give of themselves this way. These were people of different religions. In the beginning, there were many difficulties, but with sincerity, we drew near them, and with sincerity, we showed them compassion and love. With this kind of cherishing love, this genuine respect, we drew near them. This way, we were able to bring everyone together. The fruit of that giving out of love is a feeling of gratitude.
After providing emergency disaster relief, what comes immediately after that is keeping them company. Even now, Tzu Chi volunteers are still in the worst-hit areas. We also rebuilt houses for them. For dozens of households, we constructed houses for them. This is Living Bodhisattvas’ power of love. They unceasingly gave of themselves.
Next, we began to teach them. “Having relieved them from suffering, [Bodhisattvas] then expound the Dharma for them.” We taught them to protect the environment. We often went to that place to promote recycling. The people who lived there were touched by Tzu Chi’s sincerity. So, they showed their respect; they accepted [the teachings] with respect. Among the local people, there was one woman who initiated this effort and took the lead. This women, Rohana, began to mobilize people. She provided her land to be their recycling center and began to promote this all over her village, telling everyone to not burn their trash. She told them, “At that time Tzu Chi came and taught is to protect our environment, to recycle our resources. They hope that everyone can show their respect and give of their love to the world.” So, she shared the principles with them. Everyone heard this and thought it made sense. “Why are these disasters so devastating? We must have respect for heaven and earth. We must not continue to burn trash and cause such terrible pollution. The imbalance of our climate may truly be due to our continually burning trash.” So, they quit burning trash. Now, they recycle all their bottles. Now, there are mealy a hundred recycling volunteers. The way they did it in that place is exactly the way we do it in Taiwan. They tie things nearly, bag things neatly and stack things neatly. This was truly touching to see.
With a disaster that severe, so much strength had to be exerted. Many people were mobilized; they gave without expectations and paid out of their own pockets [to get there]. They gathered together to provide relief to this disaster area. In this disaster area, there are people pf all kinds of religions. Now, everyone has already overcome the barrier of religion. At the same time, they have responded to the call to protect the environment. They have come together to do this. This is the principle. With the principles, they paved the path with love. This demonstrates their respect. [Rohana] did recycling work to give back. She said, “I did this to show respect. Tzu Chi volunteers came here and taught is this. So, we4 should respect heaven and earth and accept the Tzu Chi volunteers call to do engage in environmental protection.
See, isn’t this exercising sincerity and compassionate love to protect humans and protect the earth? Therefore, this sincere compassion truly has already created this kind of response. Seeing this is very touching. So, we should be grateful for the Buddha and repay the Buddha’s grace. That village, to repay the Tzu Chi volunteers, put teachings into action by doing recycling work. What about us? as disciples of the Buddha, we must uphold and recite the sutras and put them into practice to repay the Buddha for carrying us on His shoulders; we should repay Him. The Buddha’s love for us, His compassion, is what we must show gratitude for. We must repay the Buddha’s grace.
Look us take a look at the previous sutra passage. “Whatever places they go, people should pay respects toward them and, wholeheartedly, with palms joined together, reverently make offerings to them and respect and praise them.”
In other words, with those who uphold the sutras, the sutra is present in that place in its entirety. Not only do they uphold it, but they also read, recite, expound it and practice according to the teachings. This means the sutra is there in its entirety. The entirety of this sutra is like the entire body of the Tathagata. So, that is the direction we should “pay respects toward”. We should pay our respects in that direction. Furthermore, we must “wholeheartedly, with palms joined together, reverently make offerings to them and respect and praise them”.
[We should] then use “flowers, fragrance, strings of jewels, scented powders, fragrant oils, incense, silken canopies, hanging banners, clothes, food and all kinds of music….”
This is using all kinds of tangible things to express the intangible reverence of the mind, transforming intangible principles into tangible [things]. The Bodhisattva-aspirations we form are in our minds and cannot be seen. The Bodhisattvas’ mission is to pave a path with love among people; that is something tangible. So, we take intangible principles and transform them into tangible ways of giving. This is called “reverence and respect”. Following and outing the principles into practice is also showing respect and reverence.
The next sutra passage says, “They must use the supreme offerings of this world to make offerings. They must take celestial treasures to scatter among them. The collection of celestial treasures should be offered.”
People who can uphold this sutra in a very complete way and also practice according to the teachings, people like this, are worthy of offerings. We “must use the supreme offerings of this world,” the highest offerings. When everyone talks about “offerings,” the offering of utmost reverence [is supreme].
The must use the supreme offerings from this world to make offerings: They use all the supreme and wondrous offerings of this world to make offerings to those uphold the sutras.
This is “the supreme and wondrous offerings of this world.” This is the offerings of utmost reverence. As we just discussed, those Tzu Chi volunteers in Malaysia mindfully gave to people in those disaster areas. This is the greatest way of repaying the Buddha’s grace; this is supreme reverence. That village reverently did recycling work; this was their reverent offerings to show gratitude to the Tzu Chi volunteers. This was the way they gave of themselves. This is how, through people’s relationship, they mutually put the teachings into practice. That is called “making offerings”.
For offerings, there are material offerings, offerings of reverence and offerings of putting teachings into action. Among these three kinds, the offerings of taking action are supreme. This is the same principle.
So, “They use all the supreme and wondrous offerings of this world to make offerings.” This is because they have already taken the Dharma to heart. After they took the Dharma to heart, they were willing to give; this is the most wondrous Dharma. The Dharma that people can take to heart and make use of is the most wondrous Dharma. This is how they make offerings.
[They] “make offerings to those who uphold the sutras”. They repay [them] by putting teachings into action. So, I often hear Tzu Chi volunteers say, “Master, we will repay you by working together with unity and harmony.” This more than anything else me very happy. This is intangible, but the harmony and unity of a group of people comes from being the same heart and mind in making the supreme offering. When we make offerings to the Buddha, we should do the same. With supreme and unsurpassed love, we take the Dharma to heart and express it outwardly to reciprocate the Buddha’s grace.
So, “They must take celestial treasures to scatter among them.” Like scattering flowers, this is “to encourage heavenly beings to scatter flowers and offer treasures.”
The scattering of flowers is like the happiness people feel after listening to the sutra. [A heart] experiencing the Dharma-joy is like a heart blooming with flowers. This is like scattering flowers “I feel very happy after listening to this. Not only do o delight in it, I also want to put it into practice. I want to pave the path with love. This is truly showing that we are happy, we have accepted the sutra and we have offered the treasure of utmost respect. This treasure is the treasure of our hearts, which we are offering up.
Isn’t this like the parable of the poor son? The elder of the wealthy family approached his impoverished child. He gradually guided the child [to understand]. “You also have a part in this wealth.” This expresses what the Buddha said, “When you absorb my teachings, they become yours. Everyone’s mind contains a treasury. We should open up the treasuries of our minds and make offerings with them. Every one of us is wealthy. Every one of us has wisdom. Every one of us can use the collection of supreme celestial treasures. We collect the supreme treasures and offer them; this is the pooling together all kinds of love so we can give to others in all kinds of ways. This is the Dharma- treasure of upholding sutras. When we uphold the sutras and take them to heart, the spiritual wealth [we gain] is what we use to make offerings to the Buddha. So, “The collection of celestial treasures should be offered.”
The collection of celestial treasures should be offered: The collection of all treasures in the heavens must be offered to those who uphold the Dharma.
The collection of celestial treasures is our mind joined with the Buddha’s mind and becoming one. This is like how the Buddha’s mind became one with the universe; it is the same principle. We must be mindful. Everyone intrinsically has Buddha-nature. The Buddha could attain Buddhahood; we can also attain Buddhahood. So, when we discover our innate knowledge, that is our collection of celestial treasures. Our conscience is our innate knowledge. With our innate knowledge, we make use of our altruistic potential and make offerings of ourselves in this way. This is “the collection of celestial treasures, [which] should be offered.” Our innate knowledge converges with the heavens and we give of ourselves. So, “The collection of all treasures in the heavens must be offered to those who uphold the Dharma.” Those who uphold the Dharma use their wisdom, love and firm aspirations to read, recite accept and uphold this sutra. They practice according to the teachings and spread the dharma throughout the world. We must this to demonstrate that our minds have already received our conscience’s teachings. We express the intent of our conscience. This is how we make offerings. Actually, if we explain it this way, we should be able to constantly make offerings.
Otherwise, we may often wonder, “A collection of celestial treasures? Where are we supposed to get celestial treasures to make offerings?” Actually, this sutra is using a metaphor. We must mindfully seek to experience it. [in terms of] innate knowledge and conscience, we often say, “listen to your conscience more.” Our conscience is innate knowledge. With innate knowledge we can tap into our altruistic potential. Our altruistic potential can benefit people. This is how we make offerings. This is making offerings with the collection of heavenly treasures.
The next sutra passage says, “Why is this so? Because these people take joy in expounding the Dharma. The instant they hear it, they immediately attain the ultimate, Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.”
Why do we make such solemn, reverent offering? Why? Because these people have truly taken all the principles in the Lotus Sutra and read, recited and expounded them. They have spread the Dharma in the world. This is because these people take joy in expounding the Dharma. They have already upheld, read, recited and copied each verse of this sutra, engraving it on their hearts; etching it into their hearts. So, they take joy in expounding the Dharma; everything in life is Dharma.
For this reason, the instant they hear it, their [actions] are within the Dharma in the way; the Dharma is in their life too. This is easy to understand. After listening, very quickly they can understand. Having thoroughly comprehend the principles, “they immediately attain the ultimate, Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.”
Earlier we talked about flowers blooming in our hearts because we are happy. The Dharma can arouse our Dharma-joy. This Dharma makes us happy; we take it to heart. We are truly very happy. When people speak of this Dharma, we will feel very happy deep in our hearts. This way, we can quickly awaken.
This explains that those who read and recite this sutra expound the Dharma to benefit sentient beings due to their ability to read and recite this wondrous Lotus Sutra; the benefit of expounding the Dharma is that it enables those who hear it to attain unsurpassed enlightenment and reach the ultimate state. Therefore, these Dharma teachers are worthy of respect.
This demonstrates that reading and reciting this sutra and expounding the Dharma benefits sentient beings. Expounding this sutra can benefit sentient beings. “Due to their ability to read and recite this Wondrous Lotus Flower Sutra….” They read and recite this Wondrous Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra. [So, there is] “the benefit of expounding the Dharma”. The Dharma they expound can benefit many people. It can benefit the world and bring purity to people’s minds.
“It enables those who hear it to attain unsurpassed enlightenment and reach the ultimate state.” When they listen to this Dharma, they can give rise to thoughts of joy. When they take it to heart, they can also accept and uphold it. They can also engrave it deeply on their minds and reach the ultimate. By etching it deeply, they reach the ultimate. “therefore these [are] Dharma teachers”. They are Dharma teachers of the world. These people are the world’s Dharma teachers. “[They] are worthy of respect. Because of this, we should respect them.
“Why is this so?” why is that the case? “Because these people take joy in expounding the Dharma.” In other words, these people take joy in teaching the Dharma. So, they make offerings in this way. That is their intention.
Why is this so? because these people take joy in expounding the Dharma: so, for those who aspire to make offerings, what does this mean? It is to encourage people to take joy in expounding the Dharma. This explains what it means to be “worthy of offerings,” as stated earlier. This is to appeal to the Dharma teachers to joyously expound the Dharma, so people will instantly attain Bodhi.
This is exhorting every one of us to be joyful. We should take joy in listening to the Dharma, in expounding the Dharma and in spreading the Dharma to universally spread this Dharma around the world. This explains that everyone should give rise to joy and make offerings. We should make offerings to them, and they should be respected. We must earnestly be mindful. Wherever this sutra is, we should give rise to joy for that place. Moreover, when we hear people reciting sutras or expounding the sutras, we should give rise to a reverent heart. “This is to appeal to the Dharma teachers to joyously expound the Dharma, so people will instantly attain Bodhi.” Everyone can be a Dharma teacher. We must also ourselves seek to recite, uphold the sutras. Everyone is able to pass down the sutras. We give in this way in hopes that we will also be able to do the same. So, our goal for ourselves is also to be able to become Dharma teachers.
Therefore, we must exercise our joyous hearts. We must learn to expound the Dharma, apply the sutra in our minds and practice in our daily lives. When we have a chance, we share it with others. Any time is a time to expound the Dharma. We must seize this time. If we can do this, [we can attain the ultimate] “the instant [we] hear it”.
The instant they hear it, they immediately attain the ultimate, Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi: The timespan of one day is divided into 30 periods of time. This means in the short time of hearing the Dharma, due to their faith, they can realize the essence of the teachings wholeheartedly. Thus, they can attain the ultimate Buddha-Bodhi.
When we often learn about how to expound the sutras, then naturally, when we hear them again, we can quickly understand them. So, holding study groups after hearing the sutras is very important. Everyone can review them, in the Chapter on the Conjured City, didn’t the 16 princes listen to this sutra, review it and expound the Lotus Sutra again? This means we should also learn to do this. Then when we listen to others’ explanations, we will be able to understand faster. This way, “They immediately attain the ultimate Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.” This is very quick. “The timespan of one day, from day to night, is divided into 30 periods of time.” Whether it is daytime or nighttime, these periods are very short times in which we can listen to the Dharma. We can hear the Dharma; it is always in our lives. We all listen with our eyes and our ears and experience with our bodies. Whether it is day or night, we can listen to the Dharma anywhere. We can do this the whole day.
So this is faith. We must have very deep faith to understand the principles of the sutras and the very essence of the meaning. When we listen, we must do so wholeheartedly. We cannot just casually listen. Sometimes we might [call out to] someone. Why aren’t they responding? In turns out, they are listening. They are listening to the sutras broadcast and are doing so wholeheartedly. “Wholeheartedly” is being focused and taking the essence of the meanings and principles to heart. This is “[realizing] the essence of the teachings wholeheartedly”. “Thus, they can attain the ultimate Buddha-Bodhi.” If we can do this, [we can attain] the Buddha’s awakening. Bodhi us awakening. We can achieve the ultimate understanding and thoroughly understand the principles that the Buddha awakened to.
Everyone, as Buddhist practitioners, this is what we should do. These deep principles are actually found in ordinary found in ordinary things. If we simply [cling] to the sutras, things like making offerings with the collection of heavenly treasures is something we will not be able to do. If we just recite the text, how could we be able to do that? We must be very clear on the meaning behind the entire sutra text and take it to heart, realizing what it is. There is wealth in our minds. Everyone has treasures. It turns out that the poor son was the child of a wealthy family. It turns out ordinary beings intrinsically have Buddha-nature. When we completely display this Buddha-nature and intuitive knowledge, that is using our conscience and altruistic potential and giving in the world. We must make offerings in this way. This is because we read the sutras and were happy. We were very happy and felt Dharma-joy in our hearts. In our lives, we are always paving the path with the Dharma. We always go among people with Dharma-joy. Isn’t this the scattering of celestial flowers? It is the same principle. In summary, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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